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Tag Archives: nuclear energy

Turkey’s elusive quest for harnessing nuclear energy dates back to times which most of us perceive only through the black-and-white footage of 1950s and stories of our parents and grandparents. Launched by President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program, it took off steadily as by 1956 Turkey already boasted a reactor research facility not far away from Istanbul, on the shores of lake Küçükçekmece. By the 1970s the Turkish authorities have pinpointed the most suitable site for the construction of a nuclear plant – they have chosen Akkuyu on the Anatolian coast, making use of its proximity to the sea, low population density and at the same time closeness to big demand hubs, as well as its low seismic activity. Continue reading →

The U.S. is in a catch-22. Either step in, and in some sort of restricted way, help the Saudis build a nuclear program, or allow the Russians and Chinese to fill the vacuum in giving the Kingdom a path to nuclear weapons. The latter would likely mean the end of a U.S.-Saudi alliance and see relations in Riyadh shift to the Moscow-Beijing axis.

This isn’t the first bit of news regarding Saudi Arabia’s quest for nuclear weapons, either. Saudi Arabia has always seeked nuclear weapons as a hedge against Iran. In doing so under a low profile, Saudi Arabia has financed Pakistan’s nuclear program in exchange for technology transfer should the need arise to acquire them one day.

Allowing for Iran to proliferate opened the gates to Saudi proliferation, which will without a doubt, pave the way for other nations in the region to acquire. In the end, you can’t say you weren’t warned of the consequences.

Saudi Arabia is moving swiftly to become the next country in the Middle East with nuclear power. The Kingdom is on the verge of striking a deal with the US for the purchase of nuclear reactors despite concerns over its refusal to accept stringent restrictions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Continue reading →

World War 3 might not erupt in Syria, over South China Sea and even in Turkey, as what many believe. The looming third world war may be brewing just 300 miles from the U.S. mainland. Russia has stationed two S-400 advanced Growler surface-to-air missile systems in six polar bases within the border of U.S. in the arctic.

An anonymous source from the Russian Armed Forces revealed that Russian S-400 growlers were deployed to the Novaya Zemlya archipelago and the port of Tiksi in the Arctic Ocean. The growlers stationed at the Wrangle Island and Cape Schmidt in Chukotka are put on war alert round the clock, the source told TASS. These bases mentioned were just within 300 miles from the U.S. mainland. Continue reading →

Fukushima’s still radiating, self-perpetuating, immeasurable, and limitless, like a horrible incorrigible Doctor Who monster encounter in deep space.

Fukushima will likely go down in history as the biggest cover-up of the 21st Century. Governments and corporations are not leveling with citizens about the risks and dangers; similarly, truth itself, as an ethical standard, is at risk of going to shambles as the glue that holds together the trust and belief in society’s institutions. Ultimately, this is an example of how societies fail.

Tens of thousands of Fukushima residents remain in temporary housing more than four years after the horrific disaster of March 2011. Some areas on the outskirts of Fukushima have officially reopened to former residents, but many of those former residents are reluctant to return home because of widespread distrust of government claims that it is okay and safe.

Part of this reluctance has to do with radiation’s symptoms. It is insidious because it cannot be detected by human senses. People are not biologically equipped to feel its power, or see, or hear, touch or smell it (Caldicott). Not only that, it slowly accumulates over time in a dastardly fashion that serves to hide its effects until it is too late. Continue reading →

In 2011, Germany decided to shut down its nuclear reactors within a decade, a bold response in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown. The so-called energiewende – or energy transition – is an audacious plan to rapidly switch from large baseload nuclear power to renewable energy, primarily from solar and wind.

A second energy transition is being considered in Berlin. The German government is negotiating with utilities to close coal-fired power plants in order to slash carbon emissions by 22 million tons by 2020, according to Reuters. That could lead to the closure of 8 gigawatts of coal capacity. Continue reading →

So long as the United States continues suiciding itself out of existence and becoming increasingly unreliable in the eyes of its allies, expect countries with the capability such as Japan to rise up as they are left with no choice. They have the means for ‘breakout capacity’ and can go nuclear within months.

The Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan reports that Japan is secretly developing a nuclear weapons program in anticipation of a potential crisis over the Diaoyutai (Diaoyu or Senkaku) islands in the East China Sea.

Japan is currently the only nation in the world which has a complete nuclear industry. Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Toshiba are the three largest Japanese companies which produce nuclear energy. Under those three corporations, there are an additional 200 smaller firms which possess nuclear fuel or who have the know-how to handle plutonium. Continue reading →

Every commercial nuclear reactor in the United States is insufficiently protected against “credible” terrorist threats, according to a new report (PDF) from the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

The report found that facilities were vulnerable to the theft of bomb-grade nuclear materials and sabotage attacks designed to cause a meltdown. Continue reading →

International concerns have been raised by Pakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal, while Beijing has faced much criticism for its co-operation over nuclear energy with Islamabad.

Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who turned the country nuclear in 1998, sought Chinese assistance in the field of civil nuclear technology to overcome the country’s energy crisis during a meeting with visiting Premier Li Keqiang in Islamabad last month. Continue reading →